The woman in the Iron
by SweetieHeart85
Summary: This is based off the movie. This is the whole movie as if Tony was a woman! A little bit of PepperMAN!/TonyFEM! Be gentle!
1. The incident

Iron Maiden

* * *

This is my attempt at a fanfic based on the movie, except with some twists.

Tony is a woman(name is my own selection)

And Pepper is a man(modeled after Bradley Cooper so HA!)

There will be _**some**_ changes as to accommodate Tony as a woman, so please be gentle.

I do not own anything!

* * *

In the Kumar Providence in Afghanistan, a Humvee caravan was making it's way across the desert to the next military post so the famous "Toni Stark" could advertise the new weapon, the Jericho Missile. Demands for a new weapon were always high and Toni Stark was always on the top list of deals since her weapons were not only equipped with the latest technology, but success rates in usage and effectiveness of her weapons were always at the top.

One of the Humvees "Back in Black" was pouring out in high volume. Inside, Artemis Antoinette Stark was sitting inside, dressed in a royal blue pinstripe suit, her tie loosened and the first two buttons undone, sat nursing a cold glass of scotch, while receiving some nervous glances from the 2 male soldiers occupying the Humvee with her. She glanced at the one to her left who was a young man, probably no older than 22, giving her the innocent "I can't believe this is Toni Stark" expression. Finally a little annoyed she spoke out,

"I feel like you're driving me to my court-martial, this is crazy. What'd I do?" She shouted out, trying to be heard over the loud music as she looked to the male in the passenger seat who was looking at her the same way.

"I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me." She added trying to get a laugh this time, but it obvisiously failed, further annoying her,

"What, you're not allowed to talk?" She asked the boy sitting next to her, who still did not respond,

"Hey! Forrest!" she barked. The boy finally spoke up,

"We can talk, ma'am." he said nervously. But the answer did not make her feel better,

"Oh, I see." she said as she glanced out the window,

"So it's personal?" it wasn't really a question. She was aware alot of people did not approve of her choice in inventions...

"No, you intimidate them." the driver spoke, which turned out to be a woman. Toni was surprised,

"Good God, you're a woman!" she chirped, lowering her drink a little and looking at the driver through her designer sunglasses,

"I honestly... I couldn't have called that." she said a little sheepishly,

"I mean I'd apologize but it's that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first." She said, noticing both men were now smiling a little, finding humor in her words now. Finally. Guess she could play a little,

"I'm an airman." the female soldier corrected politely.

"You have, actually, excellent bone structure, there. I'm kind of, having a hard time, not looking at you now. Is that weird?" She said teasingly. It wasn't flirtatious. Toni wasn't bi. But she knew it'd get a rise from people. And it worked. All three began to smile more, the younger one laughing out right. She had to smirk herself.

"Come on, it's okay laugh! HEY!" She cheered. Bout time she got a rise. The male passenger turned to her, still a little nervous.

"Ma'am I have a question to ask." Toni lifted up her glass and took a sip before answering him,

"Yes, please." she loved it when people asked her things, it usually pertained to what they saw in tabloids, allowing Toni to play on them for her own amusement.

"Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's male Maxim cover models?" he asked. Toni was not ashamed. She was a good looking woman. It was only right for her to be with good looking men... even if it gave her a scandalous reputation, it was fun. She took off her glasses and looked the man dead in the eye with playful seriousness

"That is an excellent question. Yes and no." She said and began to think over the details,

"March and I had scheduling a conflict, but fortunately the Christmas cover had twins!" She smirked as she watched the man's eyes fill with surprise. Might as well keep going,

"Anything else?" she turned when she saw motion to her left, the boy was lifting his hand up, like a classroom, Toni couldn't believe it,

"You're kidding me with the hand up right?" she asked him, she was dead serious that time. Who the hell raises their hand like that anymore? Was she THAT intimidating or was he just extra polite.

"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?" he asked meekly. Toni shrugged,

"Yes, it's very cool." she said with a soft smile. The boy dug into one of his many pockets and pulled out his digitial camera and handed it to the passenger. The man smiled and turned it one while the boy and Toni scooted closer together.

"I don't wanna see this on your Myspace page." Then she noticed the boy was making a peace sign and went for it,

"Please, no gang signs." The boy lowered his hand, Toni was bursting inside, SO CUTE!

"No, throw it up I'm kidding." she said, the boy put his peace sign back up.  
"Yeah peace! I love peace. I'd be out of a job with it." she said and waited. Then two men began to argue back and forth when the passengar began to have difficulties taking the picture, clearly at a loss with the camera.

That's when hell broke loose with the Humvee in front of them exploded. Games were over and all joking went clean out of Toni as the three soldiers began to scream.

"What's going on!" She cried out,

"Contact left!" the driver screamed as the two men began to arm their weapons. The driver got out with her gun, but unfortunately she was taken out first.

"Jimmy, stay with Stark!" The passenger shouted to the boy and got out himself. The boy shouted at Toni to get down, which she did quickly and watched out the front window. She watched at the man opened fire, firing off a few rounds before a bullet got him in the head, splattering his blood and brains on the window. Toni jumped up, she had never seen that outside a movie before... the boy cursed and took the safety off his rifle and began to get out too. Toni went into full panic,

"Wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun!" she shouted,

"Stay here!" The boy shouted at her. He began to turn away to aim his gun but bullets riddled the Humvee There was a ringing in her ears now as she looked around to try and see where the firing was now coming from. She had to get away! She watched helplessly as another explosion went off, killing the men in the Humvee which sat next to hers. She couldn't stay here!

She got out, shrieking as she heard and felt another explosion go off. She took off, trying to seek cover and dove behind a rock. This was crazy! She took out her cellphone and began to dial Rhodey's number, seeking him out. Then she heard something collide with the ground next to her. She looked over at it, hearing it powering up. She saw it... her name... Stark Industries and instantly recognized the model and began to scramble to get up and away, but it was too late. It went off. Throwing her back some feet.

She felt like she had the wind knocked out of her, her face and chest burned... more her chest... why... she shook the dust out of her face and looked at her suit, blood was beginning to stain it... panicked, she began to unbutton it and her dress shirt to see why she was bleeding. Blood was quickly seeping through... her vision starting to blur. She looked at her Kevlar vest, blood was soaking it through, a few tears were evident... she had been hit... her vision began to turn white as she laid her head back, not believing what was happening. Was she going to die? Finally, the white light took hold...

It was being filtered through some cloth now. Huh? She could hear the muffled sounds of someone talking. She couldn't understand what they were saying, it was in a foreign language. Whatever was blocking her vision was ripped off her. She had to squint against the light now. Where was she? She willed the fog in her head to lift as she looked around... wait... they had guns. She glanced down at herself, she was bound at the hands. And her chest was bandaged up, but blood had soaked through. She now recognized the language... it was Arabic She looked forward and saw a man with a recorder... the only thought that was now present in her mind was...

'_Shit_...'


	2. What is Toni Stark

This is my attempt at a fanfic based on the movie, except with some twists.  
Tony is a woman(name is my own selection)  
And Pepper is a man(modeled after Bradley Cooper so HA!)  
There will be _**some** _changes as to accommodate Tony as a woman, so please be gentle.

I don't own anything!

* * *

Chap 2: What is Toni Stark

* * *

"Artemis "Toni" Stark."

In Las Vegas, Nevada, 36 hours earlier. In Cesar's Palace there was a ceremony going on. The Apogee Awards. Paying homage and tribute to the famous Toni Stark. Flashes on the screen of images of Toni were displayed on the big screen.

"Visionary. Genius. American patriot." Everyone applauded at that. All of the people attending were in favor of what Toni did for a living. An image of a Toni as a little girl was displayed on the screen, followed by an image of her father, Howard Stark, posing in front of a blue print of his.

"Even from an early age, the daughter of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with her brilliant and unique mind." An image of Toni as a toddler posing with a tutor was displayed, in front of them was a very large and bulky device.

"At age four, she built his first circuit board. At age six, her first engine. And at 17, she graduated summa cum laude from MIT." Images of Toni as a child posing with her father on a old fashion motorcycle was displayed followed by a teenage Toni posing at her college in front of a black board with Dummy's blue prints on it, followed by an image of Toni with Dummy was next.

"Then, the passing of a titan. Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21, the prodigal child returns..." Images of a newspaper clippings with reports on Howard and Maria Stark's car accident filled the screen, bringing a sense of emptiness to the room as everyone had grieved that day. Then images of Obadiah filled the screen for a few minutes before a magazine cover, with a youthful and determined looking Toni posing with Obadiah with bold blue text saying "The new kid: Artemis Stark takes reigns at 21" was displayed on the screen.

"And is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries." Everyone applauded at that, including Obadiah, who smiled with pride.

"With the keys to the kingdom, Artemis ushers in a new era for her father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting. Today, Artemis "Toni" Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe." Images of the current slightly older Toni posing from various magazine clippings flashed over the screen quickly, applause filling the room before the reel ended.

A spotlight shone on Colonel Rhodes. Toni's best friend. Who stood at the podium with an award and a smile himself.

"As liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. She is my friend and she is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Ms. Artemis Stark." More applause filled the room as everyone waited for Toni Stark to walk on stage, greet the Colonel and accept the award. But after a minute or two, there was no sign of her,

"Toni?" Rhodey called, smiling awkwardly. Obadiah glowered and shook his head. Not again... He quickly stood up and walked on stage accepting the award from Rhodey,

"Thank you Colonel." He started, shaking the man's hand and saving him from further humiliation.

"Thanks for the save." He said quietly and slicked back to allow Obadiah to speak,

"This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful." He said as he professionally as he admired the award.

"Well, I'm not Artemis Stark." He said jokingly, earning some soft laughter before continuing

"But if I were Toni, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award." He said holding the award up for a moment before setting it back down, thinking for a moment,

"Toni, you know... The best thing about Toni is also the worst thing. She's always working." He said confidently.

* * *

Toni threw the dice she had been holding onto the craps table, winning the hand. Everyone cheered. Toni was surrounded by men and women alike, but mostly men. She turned to her chauffeur her favorite playmate and bumped shoulders playfully with him as he kept a watchful eye out on his boss. She had turned to a man who had been standing next to her, who had touched her hair suggestively. Toni turned her body fully to the man and slid her hands up his chest and smiled kittenishly at him,

"We should just stay till the morning." she said seductively before a firm and overbearing presence came next to her.

"You are unbelievable." It was Rhodey, figures. Turning to her best friend she looked at him in surprise, the only reason he'd be here was...  
"Oh no, did they rope you into this?" she asked, Rhodey shook his head and stood up straight,

"I wasn't roped into anything! When they told me that if I presented you with an award, you'd be deeply honored." he said and looked at her as if she had just stolen his girlfriend, she shrunk a little,

"Of course I am honored. And it's you, that's great! So when are we doing it?" she asked as she turned back to the craps table.

"It's right here. There you go." Rhodey said as he lifted up the award right in front of Toni's face, who stared at the award with slight shock for it's sudden appearance,

"There it is, that was easy." she said and took the award from her friend before pouting up cutely at him,

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah it's okay..." he said, though he had not forgiven her yet. Toni grimanced at the award before handing it to the man next to her,

"Wow! Would you look at that? That's something else." she said with fake interest before she reached down the table and pushed a bunch of $1000 chips, making a bet.

"I don't have any of those floating around." The man admired Toni's award along with a woman. When Toni glanced up at Rhodey to say something, she saw his eyes were on the woman. Feeling jilted, she turned to the man and held out her hand to his face, dice in hand.  
"Give me a hand, will you? Just give it a little something-something." She said sweetly, smiling when the man blew on the dice. Then she lifted her hand towards Rhodey,

"Okay, you too." Rhodey glared at her,

"I don't blow on dice." He said quickly, Toni pouted,

"Come on, honey..." they continued to argue for a few more seconds before Rhodey pushed her hand out of his face, she followed the momentium and threw the dice.

"There it is! Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes rolls and..." But the dice fell on snake eyes, she lost. Rhodey just shrugged, secretly laughing inside.

"That's what happens." he said with a smirk. Toni rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses,

"Worse things have happened. I think we're gonna be fine. Color me up, will you?" She said turning to the dealer. She had no idea how right she would be in just a day...

Rhodey was walking Toni out of the casino, smiling and patted her head affectionately,

"This is where I exit." he said, Toni smiled brightly, only Rhodey got that smile from her. He was special. A best friend. The only one aside from Pepper and Obadiah to not hurt her.

"All right." She said, Rhodey tilted her head back, making her look him dead in the eye with a smile,

"Tomorrow, don't be late!" he said firmly before letting her go.

"Yeah, you can count on it." Toni said, smoothing her hair back down,

"I'm serious!" Rhodey called out

"I know, I know!" She shouted back before exiting the casino with her chauffeur, handing a Cesar look-like her award, not wanting anything to do with it.

Her chauffeur opened the door to her limousine for her when someone called out,

"Ms. Stark! Excuse me, Ms. Stark!" it was a reporter. The bodyguards Pepper had hired for Toni blocked the man's path. The man was dressed designer clothes, looking like he had attended some event.

"Chris Everhart, Vanity Fair Magazine." he informed, smiling at Toni.

"Can I ask you a couple of questions?" The guards turned to Toni for her response. Toni had not even turned around, but leaned towards her chauffeur, Happy,

"Is he cute?" she asked quietly, Happy nodded and answered back quietly,

"He's cute." With that, Toni turned to the man and offered up her award winning smile,

"Hi! Yeah, okay, go." he said and approached the man.

"You've been called, the Da Vinci of our time. What would you say to that?" he asked, Toni brushed it off,

"Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint." She said playfully, the man's smile turned dark,

"And what do you say to your other nickname?" he asked, Toni was clearly confused by what he meant. What nickname?

"The Merchant of Death." he said, oh that one...

"That's not bad." she said quickly, trying to cover her disdain for the nickname. But more importantly, Vanity Fair did not cover things like that...

"Let me guess? Berkeley?" she asked, losing all playfulness the man lost his smile as well,

"Brown actually." he said, the nice tone gone,

"Well, Mr. Brown, it's an imperfect world, but its the only one we've got. I garunette you the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals." she said firmly and a little darkly herself... everyone knew there was no such thing as everlasting peace... so for people to think she was wrong by supplying weapons to ensure any peace was irritating to her.

"Rehearse that much?" The man asked snidely, Toni didn't flinch,

"Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime." she said with her own hint of snide, but it quickly went away and she was back to her man-catching antics.

"I can see that." the man said, Toni flipped her hair,

"I'd like to show you first hand..." she said with a kittenish smile. The man ignored it,

"All I want is a serious answer." Toni was growing weary,

"Okay here's serious. My old man had a philosophy, "Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy."" she said and waited for the snide again,

"That's a great line coming from the one selling the sticks." Now it was personal,

"My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero." she said proudly. No one made her family out to be Murderers.

"And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering." This man was increasingly aggravating. Toni yanked her sunglasses off to look at the man's eyes with her own set,

"Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with or intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey." She snipped, Happy was about to step in, seeing his boss visibly steamed now.

"Wow, you ever lose an hour of sleep your whole life?" The man asked,

"I'd be prepared to lose a few with you." she said as a matter of factly... the snide smirk disappeared off the man's face.

Next minute Toni knew, she was being pushed down onto her bed by the man who was frantically groping and kissing her. They rolled off the bed as Toni laughing loudly.

* * *

The next morning, the man was awaken by this:

"Good morning." The man sat up quickly, holding the sheets around his waist.

"It's 7 AM. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds." The windows turned on as if they were screens to reveal a sunny view of the ocean.  
"The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m." The man looked out the window in awe, he had not seen this when they came here last night.

"Artemis?" The man called out, now dressed in pants and walked into a living room area, looking for his nightly lover,

"Hey, Artemis?" he called again but saw no signs of her. He continued to look around, this time looking at all the decor. He saw a panel on the wall and looked it over, thinking. He reached out and turned the knob that was on the panel, it whirred and buzzed at him,

"You are not authorized to access this area." the male voice from this morning stating politely, startling the man again,

"Jesus." he mumbled before backing away.

"That's Jarvis. He runs the house." a male voice spoke again, this time different and more professional. The reporter whirled around and saw a man around his age dressed in a business suit holding his clothes on hangers.

"I've got your clothes here. They've been dry-cleaned and pressed. And there's a car waiting outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go." he said professionally. The reporter looked over the man, then smiled,

"You must be the famous Pepper Potts." he said, trying not to laugh at the man's name. The man nodded,

"Indeed I am." The man came over and took his clothes from Pepper,

"After all these years, Artemis is still having you pick up the dry-cleaning." The reporter said with a hint of self-mightiness. Pepper could hardly believe his audacity, but didn't let it show

"I do anything and everything Ms. Stark requires." He said with a firm nod before adding,

"Including occasionally, taking out the trash." he said with a sweet smile. Seeing the man's smirk fade from the veiled insult,

"Will that be all?" he asked politely.

* * *

Downstairs, Toni was disassembling on of her hot-rods, listening to loud rock music at the same time. Her hair was pulled back into a lazy ponytail and she was dressed in sweat clothes that still looked expensive. After taking the engine apart enough, she grabbed a hand-held device and pointed it at the engine,

"Give me an exploded view." she said and looked up at a screen which displayed the engine completely taken apart.

"The compression in cylinder three appears to be low." Jarvis reported, displaying a readout of the compression pressure gauge which was slightly low.

"Log that." Toni said and began to fix the engine. In the back, Pepper was inputting his entry code and turned off the music as he entered, he was on his phone,

"I'll try again right now." he said

"Please don't turn down my music." Toni said not looking up from her work,

"I'll keep you posted." Pepper said into his phone, ignoring Toni before shutting it and turning to her.

"You are suppose to be halfway across the world right now." he said looking down at his clipboard, his tone clearly annoyed.

"How'd he take it?" She asked, ignoring him.

"Like a champ." he answered. Toni raised some car parts up, looking for any damage,

"Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?" she asked,

"You're flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago." Pepper informed her. Toni rolled her eyes,

"That's funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there." she started before Pepper interrupted her,

"Toni, I need to speak with you about a couple of things before I get you out the door." he said, lifting his clipboard up,

"Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?" Toni asked as she started to get up to address her assistant properly.

"Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no." He asked looking up from his clipboard. Toni thought about it before looking back at him,

"Is it a good representation of his spring period?" She asked, wiping her hands off.

"No. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked, not "spring" like the season." trying to explain but Toni interrupted him,

"So?" Pepper was silent for a second before pondering his next words,

"I think it's a fair example. I think it's incredibly overpriced." he said with an honest shrug. Toni smiled and stood completely up this time,

"I need it. Buy and store it." she said and stretched.

"Okay. The MIT commencement speech..." Toni began to walk towards her main workshop computer,

"Is in June. Please, don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way, down..."

"They're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes." Pepper said interrupting her yet again and jotted down a few things before moving on,

"Deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me." Toni said a little irritated with Pepper

"I need you to sign this before you get on the plane." Pepper held out the clipboard for her. Toni raised her brow at him,

"What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got plans?" She asked walking up to him, finally seeing he was incredibly antsy today. Pepper looked down at her, standing a good 7 inches high than her,

"As a matter of fact I do." he said, Toni pouted and visibly slouched,

"I don't like it when you have plans." she fussed, Pepper smirked at her, she was so spoiled.

"I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday." he said and pushed the clipboard more towards her, insistently,

"It's your birthday?" Toni squeaked, she was gonna pay for this later...

"Yes." Pepper said as he looked over his boss, seeing she was genuinely surprised to hear about his birthday,

"I knew that. Already?" She said, taking her hair down and letting the very dark reddish black hair fall over her shoulders. Pepper looked up at the ceiling for a second before rolling his eyes,

"Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year." he said and pushed the clipboard out again, Toni pushed it back,

"Get yourself something nice from me." she said with a playful smile. Pepper was also special, only he got to use her credit card at his disposal. But he never abused her trust. And for that, he was extra special to Toni.

"I already did." Toni's interest was now piqued.

"And?" She was tugging on his sleeve like a little child. He smiled more,

"It was very nice." He said, dodging her prying,

"Yeah?" Pepper could almost see the tail behind his boss wagging excitedly, he had to stifle a chuckle,

"Very tasteful." He added before turning fully to her and smiled sweetly,

"Thank you, Ms. Stark." he said teasingly. She smiled back and let his sleeve go,

"You're welcome Mr. Potts." And with that she signed his clipboard and they traded the pen for a cup of tea which Toni gulped down quickly before handing it back to him.

"Okay." and with that she headed out, leaving Pepper to smile.

Toni was in her convertible, racing down the highway, her chauffeur, Happy racing right behind her in their limousine She peeled into the airstrip and got out, looking back as Happy pulled up right beside her car, a smile on her face. Rhodey looked on from the plane with mild annoyance.

"You're good! Oh I thought I lost you back there!" She laughed as she got out and ran over to Happy. Happy got out and began to get her luggage out from the trunk,

"You did, Ma'am. I had to cut across Mulholland." he said, Toni laughed more,

"Aaahhhh! I got you, I got you!" They walked up to the plane and Rhodey glared at her,

"What's wrong with you?" He demanded, Toni looked up at him, genuinely confused,

"What?

"Three hours." he said holding up three fingers.

"I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair." She said suggestively as she climbed up the stairs to the plane, a smirk on her face. Rhodey didn't take the bait,

"For three hours. For three hours you got me standing here." He continued to bark, Toni passed by him, unfazed,

"Waiting on you now." She giggled softly as Happy followed her in to put her luggage in,

"Wheels up! Rock and roll!" She cheered.

On their way to Iraq, Toni and Rhodes sat in silence. He was reading the paper as she just watched, obviously bored. The flight attendant set down silverware.

"What you reading, platypus?" she asked, unable to take the boredom. Rhodes didn't even look up

"Nothing." he said quietly. Toni rolled her eyes,

"Come on, sour patch. Don't be mad." flipping her hair over her shoulder she slouched in her seat, not caring she was wrinkling her suit.

"I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?" he said finally looking up to smile at her but briefly and looked back down at his paper, Toni was annoyed now,

"I said I was sorry." she said holding her arms out, as another flight attendant came to greet her boss. Rhodey ignored her and continued,

"You don't need to apologize to me. I'm your man." he said coldly. Toni looked up at the flight attendant, noting she was Rhodey's type.

"I told him I was sorry but he..." Rhodes interrupted her,

"I'm just indifferent right now." he corrected,

"Hot towel?" the attendant asked, trying to ignore the conversation, Toni took the towel, thanking her as Rhodey kept going,

"You don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me." Toni looked over at him, slightly offended by his accusation

"I respect you." she insisted honestly. Rhodey was her best friend, how obvious did she make that?

I'm just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed..." he went off and took the towel from the attendant as well,

"Thank you." Then turned back to Toni,

"Let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?" Toni had had enough of that and looked up at the flight attendant,

"Hey! Heat up some sake, will you? Thanks for reminding me." She chirped, smiling at Rhodey who got even more annoyed,

"We're not drinking. We're working right now." he protested, Toni set the towel in her lap over her bare knees, they were still hurting from the work she had done earlier,

"You can't have sashimi without sake." she insisted,

"You are constitutionally incapable of being responsible." Rhodes barked, pointing his finger accusingly at Toni who held up her hands,

"It would be irresponsible not to drink. I'm just talking about a nightcap." she said as the attendant came back,

"Hot Sake?" Toni smiled at her,

"Yes, two, please." she said happily. Rhodes was getting furious,

"No. I'm not drinking. I don't want any." he said and held his hands up to the attendant who still put the bottle down in front of him. Toni smiled...

And hour later, loud music was playing and lights were flickering and flashing like night club and Toni and Rhodes were sitting in a long couch, with the flight attendants dancing, having their uniforms tied up, unbuttoned or skirts hitched up to look sexy. Rhodes was drunk now, Toni, although on her way, was still a ways away.

That's what I'm talking about. When I get up in the morning and I'm putting on my uniform, you know what I recognize?" Rhodey asked, poking Toni in the shoulder hard. She just looked at him as he ranted on,

"I see in that mirror that every person that's got this uniform on got my back!" he barked and Toni held her hands up again in mock surrender,

"Hey, you know what? I'm not like you. I'm not cut out... " she started but Rhodey interrupted her

"No, no. You don't have to be like me! But you're more than what you are." he insisted, but Toni pushed a button and one of the pilots came out, undid his shirt and took it off,

" Can you excuse me if I'm a bit distracted here?" she asked as a pole rose up from the floor and the girls began to dance more.

"No! You can't be distracted right now! Listen to me!" He whined as he shook Toni's shoulder drunkenly. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all.

* * *

At the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, Toni's plane had landed and she was disembarking. She had straighten her suit out and had done her hair. Putting on a pair of sunglasses as she got out she smiled as she descended the stairs and walked up to the General who held his hand out to her, which she shook,

"General." The general smiled at her,

"Welcome Ms. Stark. We look forward to your weapons presentation." he said, Toni nodded,

"Thanks." and then she turned to greet the allies that stood with the general.

"Is it better to be fear or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line." She said professionally as she addressed her spectators. Generals, Colonels, allied personnel and even enlistees. One of her inventions sat on a launch pad system as she was presenting it for sale.

"It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire." she shrugged offhandedly as she added,

"I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far." she said with a playful smile. She loved using her dad in all her selling speeches, worked like a charm all the time.

"Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves." She said and made a gesture to the operator of the missile to fire it. Everyone watched with bated breathes as the man aimed the missiles at a off distance mountain range and fired.

"For your consideration, the Jericho." she finished and held out her arms as a bellow of sand from the shock wave hit them all, knocking off their hats and making Toni step forward a bit to keep her balance as the mountain was destroyed Toni walked over to a large suitcase and opened it. Several glasses with cooled scotch rose up mechanically. She took one of the glasses and poured some scotch and added ice into it and held it up in salute,

"I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more. To peace!" With that she took a sip and walked off a little. Her phone went off. She sighed and took it out and opened it, Obadiah appeared on the screen,

"Toni." Toni smirked at the old man

"Obie, what are you still doing up?" she asked, back in the states it was probably going on 2 in the morning whereas it was barely noon where she was.

"I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it go?" he asked anxiously. Toni smiled more,

"It went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas." she said as she glanced back at the crowd who were discussing how much they'd need. Obadiah laughed,

"Hey! Way to go, my girl! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" he cheered softly, Toni tilted her head at the screen, she had noticed Obadiah wasn't wearing a shirt... did he have company?

"Why aren't you wearing the pajamas I got you?" She asked, Obadiah rolled his eyes,

"Goodnight Toni." he said dismissively. Toni approached the humvee she was not assigned to and Rhodes ran over to her. She was a little mad at him for his lecture and blocked his entry,

"I'm sorry, this is the "Fun-vee" The "hum-drum-vee" is back there." she said and pointed to the lead Humvee. Rhodes looked at her with gentle eyes for once,

"Nice job." he said softly and patted her shoulder. Toni smiled,

"See you back at base." would be the last thing she would be able to say to her best friend for months...


	3. Imprisonment

**I don't own anything except maybe this female Stark and Male Pepper... MAYBE :P**

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Chapter 3: Imprisonment

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Toni was in pain. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. Her voice wouldn't work. She felt things being stuck into her, cutting her, hurting her. She tried to thrash but her body felt sluggish. She felt something heavy being pushed into her chest. What was it? It hurt so much! She could hear her own screams in her head. Stop it! Please! No more! Something covered her face, it smelt sweet. Her world began to darken, the pain fading.

When Toni woke next, it was with a start. She had had a horrible nightmare. It was over now... first thing she noticed was she was FREEZING! There was a dull ache in her chest and a burn in her nose. Wait. She had a tube shoved down... it looked like a feeding tube. Oh God! Was she that bad!? She looked around and saw she wasn't home... she was in a cave. So it wasn't a nightmare after all.

She lifted her hands up and began to pull the tube out, she shuddered at the feel of the tube coming up. She ripped the tape off after she managed to get it out and looked around. She saw some cups of water by her cot. She flexed her hands, they were numb from the cold, but usable. She quickly reached out but knocked them over... oh well. For all she knew they could have been poisoned. She looked up when she saw movement. A man, stood in front of a tiny mirror and was shaving. His clothes were dirty. How long had he been here? She tried to turn over to get up, but something yanked at her chest, preventing her from moving any further, and it stung!

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." the man said calmly. Toni turned over to the other side, to see what had she tugged on. Her eyes widened in horror. Why as a car battery sitting there!? She saw the wires and grabbed one, following it's path to her chest bandages. Her entire bust and torso was wrapped up, stained yellowish red. She groaned worriedly as she began to claw at them, ripping them open to reveal a makeshift magnet was embedded into her chest. Skin was already healing around it. She stared on in absolute horror. What the hell happened! Where was she!?

The man was fixing something for them to eat. After Toni had calmed down, he had dressed her in a large sweater, probably a man's. He was whistling cheerfully. Toni was ready to thrash him. She stared at the magnet in her chest through the tiny mirror he had used to shave.

"What the hell did you do to me?" she demanded. The man turned to her, finding her tone amusing,

"What I did?" he asked, stirring the food in the plate,

"What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's alot left and it's headed into your atrial septum." he explained. So that's what happened... that missile had been designed for that purpose... she should be happy it was effective, had she not become a victim of her own design. How ironic. Toni wasn't a expert in anatomy, but she was sure he meant her heart.

"Here, wanna see?" He asked as he held up a small vial and shook it, she could hear soft jingling inside it,

"I have a souvenir for you." he said and handed her the vial. She held it up and saw the tiny shrapnel pieces inside... they were small enough to stay in arteries... she never had that in mind for the design, it was meant to straight kill, not make one suffer.

"I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs." he explained. Toni felt faint again... so she was literally living on borrowed time now? She was going to die soon?

"What is this?" she asked, gesturing the magnet in her chest, the man did not seemed faze by her tone,

"THAT is an electromagnet hooked up to a car battery, and it is keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart." So that's why she was still alive and in less pain than before. Someone performed surgery on her... and it seemed it was this man. He saved her life... but for how long? She moved a little, testing her wound, seeing how much she could move without pain or the battery preventing her. It stung a bit, but she'd managed. Realizing her breasts were slightly exposed, she pulled the sweater close, it was really cold too. Then she noticed the security camera embedded into the wall of the cave. The man followed her gaze,

"That's right. Smile." he said and dished up the food.

"We met once, ya know, at a technical conference in Bern." He said cheerfully

"I don't remember." she answered honestly. She didn't even recall she ever went to Bern.

"No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have remembered being able to stand much less give a lecture on integrated circuits." Tony looked around widely this time,

"Where are we?" But before the man could answer, the door shutting them in was being unlocked, shouting could be head behind it. The man stood up quickly and turned to Toni,

"Come on, stand up. Stand up!" he said quickly and helped Toni up. She was a little wobbly, the magnet made her feet heavier, so she was a tad unsteady.

"Just do as I do. Come on, put your hands up." the men came in as Toni slowly lifted her hands up to her head, interlacing her fingers together. The men came in pointing guns at the two of them. They were Arabs. But what Toni more upset, was the guns they brandished.

"Those are my guns. How'd they get my guns?" she asked out loud. She knew she never dealt to the enemy. She oversaw all her deals. So how did this happen?

"Do you understand me? Do as I do." the man snipped at her. One of the men stepped forward and addressed Toni, speaking in Arabic, Toni could not understand his words, but his tone said plenty as the man looked to Toni's companion for translation,  
"He says, "Welcome, Artemis Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America." the man translated, it sent a chill down Toni's spine. The man spoke again in Arabic, which again, her companion translated,

"He is honored." Toni fought the urge to roll her eyes as the man spoke once more,

"He wants you to make a Jericho Missile." Toni's blood ran cold now, her determination bubbled up as she was shown a picture of her missile. She glared at the man before her.

"I refuse." the man looked at her incredulously.

Next thing Toni knew, her head was being shoved in ice cold water. Finally she could scream all she wanted as they held her under until she lost all air in her lungs before yanking her back up. She would gasp and wheeze, water cascading down her face and chest, getting the battery wet. When she was shoved back down, she felt a painful shock into her chest. She heard Pepper's voice calling her name before the men pulled her back up again and gave her a beating, screaming about Jericho. She would not break...

They dragged her outside, forcing her to carry her car battery so she could move around. They showed her their arsenal. Toni wanted to throw up... so much of her weapons sat before her, most still in their shipping boxes. She really was a war profiteer-er she just never realized it. Her nicknames of death rung true now, even if Toni never knew about this... who sold them all her weapons!? She was shoved forward, forced to follow the man who had demanded the missile from her in the first place. Her companion was forced along with. After looking over the weapons, Toni even spotted the missile responsible for her own injuries...

"He wants to know what you think." her companion said, translating for the large man again. Toni looked at the missile a moment longer before turning to the man

"I think you got alot of my weapons..." Her companion translated for her. The man walked around her, continuing to speak, gesturing towards all the weapons,

"He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials." Toni looked between the two men, still not knowing if her translator was her ally or not, as the bigger man spoke once more.

"He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free." Toni was not an idiot... the man held out his hand. Toni just shook it, smiling. She knew the truth,

"No he won't." she said, her companion smiled at the man too,

"No, he won't." he confirmed. She was already dead.

Toni and her companion sat in the cold cave once more, huddling close to the fire. Toni was numb now.

"I am sure they are looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains." Toni remained silent, staring at the fire,

"Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark." his voice increasing in volume and becoming more determined,

"Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out?" he asked her, clearly trying to put a fire in her, but it was useless. She was succumbing to her fate,

"Is this the last act of defiance of the great Artemis Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?" he demanded. Toni couldn't understand his reasoning.

"Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week." she said, lowering her head in defeat. How was she suppose to get out of this with a fricking car battery attached to her chest anyway?

"Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?" He said, watching her. She raised her head. An idea just came to her... she had seen a vision of it when she was being tortured...

"If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit. I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools." she was shouting these quickly and determinedly, her companion translating just as fast. Men were coming in and out with materials and supplies as Toni continued to bark demands. If she was gonna attempt this she was going to need EVERYTHING.

While she was disassembling a missile, she was feeling social.

"So how many languages do you speak?" she asked her companion

"Alot." he answered, watching her work,

"Apparently not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian." Okay, so that meant there were a lot of them, and they were determined to keep their secrets, a secret.

"Who are these people?" the man had to smile,

"They are your loyal customers, miss. They call themselves the Ten Rings." he watched Toni continued to unscrew things. Meanwhile, the watchful yet suspicious eyes of the Ten Rings kept vigilant on them.

Toni was unscrewing some pieces with a power-tool, she was working frantically but the process was still slow. The man came over to her, unable to watch anymore,

"You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process." he suggested as he watched her pound her fist against the nose of the missile managing to dislodge it. She winced as that hurt her delicate hand... she pulled out the insides of the missile and looked it over before taking a pair of pliers and yanking out something. She held up the large circuit board,

"Okay, we don't need this." she said and chucked it over her shoulder, her companion watched it crash onto the floor before turning back to Toni seeing a small and thin piece of metal in the pliers,

"What is that?" Toni held it up,

"That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?"

The Ten Rings continued to watch... well, not really watching so vigilantly anymore. On the screen, the man handed Toni a bundle of the metals she had asked him to get.

Toni put together modeling clay. It wasn't like the stuff she used back home, it looked like they had dug it up themselves. But it would work. After she set it in a bowl, she drew a circle in the clay... this has to work. After melting down the metal, her companion was carefully lifting the small bowl of hot liquid metal towards the modeling clay mold. Toni couldn't do it herself as she needed one arm to at least carry her battery, and the job required two.

"Careful. Careful we only get one shot at this." she said anxiously, worriedly watching her companion walk towards the mold, he just smiled.

"Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?" he said softly and poured the metal into the mold after Toni had set her battery down

"So what do I call you?" Toni asked, realizing she never got the man's name,

"My name is Yinsen." he said, finishing pouring the metal. Toni relaxed,

"Yinsen. Nice to meet you." she said, Yinsen looked at her and smiled more genuinely,

"Nice to meet you, too."

After the metal had cooled down, Toni carefully lifted it out of the mold, looking it over once for any rough edges before putting it on a piece of cut glass she had cut. Yinsen looked at her, very curious. Throughout the night, Toni worked on a small circular device, soldering and adding more wires to it. Finally, she had attached the small device to a small generator and turned it on. As the device powered up, the lights in the cave darkened, the small device absorbing all power in their cave and glowed brightly. Toni let out a breath, it was working... Yinsen came over and stared at her creation in awe.

"That doesn't look like a Jericho missile." he said as a matter-of-factly. Toni's eyes never left the device.

"That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home." She drummed her fingers on the large magnet in her chest,

"It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart." she finished and looked at Yinsen.

"But what could it generate?" Even more curious now if the device Toni had made was a generator of sorts.

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second." she said it as if it wasn't a big deal.

"That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes." Yinsen pointed out. To him, it was very impressive.

"Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes." Giving a hint to a bigger plot. She took Yinsen aside, out of camera view and placed some papers down over a light.

"This is our ticket out of here." she whispered, Yinsen looked but didn't see what she was getting at,

" What is it?" Toni flattened the paper out,

"Flatten them out and look." she said. The papers revealed a suit of armor with instructions and a few mathematical equations

"Oh, wow." Yinsen gasped as he stared at the suit,

"Impressive." he whispered, clearly impressed. Toni smiled.

Later that night, Toni was having Yinsen implant the reactor into her chest. Without a local, it was incredibly painful. She could feel her heart working extra hard. She couldn't help but be scared as Yinsen lifted the electrodes out of her chest and replace it with the arc reactor. After Yinsen had secured it in place, he let Toni sit up. She had to walk it off. She tested its secures and was satisfied with it. She could move around now... and probably extended her lifespan now. She shook Yinsen's hand.

After dinner, they were playing a game, taking a break since Toni was exhausted from the surgery. She needed to get use to the energy now pulsing into her body before she continued her work. It was different, that was for sure.

"You still haven't told me where you're from." Toni pointed out

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place." Yinsen said as he took his turn in the game and Toni poured herself more water. She had it warmed in order to keep warm.

"Got any family?" she asked again,

"Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?" Toni was afraid he'd shoot the question back at her. She was use to explaining the fact her was an orphan, but it didn't make it any less difficult to talk about.

"No."

"No?" Yinsen seemed surprised. Of course he did. They all were.

"So you're a woman who has everything and nothing." he said simply and smiled, Toni smiled back.

The next day, the large man who demanded Toni make the Jericho Missile came up to the door and opened the peephole. When he saw Toni still working, he dismissed all his suspicion and walked away. Toni had managed to assemble part of the chest plate from her blueprint, part of the left arm, and was working on the mask. In between pieces, she would also work on a bomb. On the screens in the security room, the Ten Rings suspicion came to a head, unable to determine what Toni was working on and convinced it was no longer the missile. After watching the screen and seeing Toni and Yinsen working on a part attached to her leg, the silent man who had always remained in the background was done with her games...

That night, the men stormed into the room, guns armed and aimed at the two as they scrambled to get up. The men parted way for the silent man. This was Toni's first time seeing him up close, but from a distance that day when she was shown her weapons, she had seen him, and instantly knew he was pulling all the strings... The man stood between Toni and Yinsen, then smiled,

"Relax." Toni looked over at Yinsen confused, but they both lowered their arms. Toni's nerves were all wired up, like something wasn't right beyond the situation... this man was dangerous...the man came over to Toni and looked down at her chest. For once, Toni felt the urge to cross her arms over her chest, protecting the light of the reactor from his eyes. But she couldn't. The man touched the reactor through Toni's shirt,

"The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire." He had walked over to Toni's work station, picking up the papers that held the blueprints to her suit. Toni felt her blood go cold.

"But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn." The man said, his English as fluent as if he had spoken it for years. Toni was annoyed, and visibly shaken now. He had put the papers down, clearly not seeing the work. Toni almost breathed a sigh of relief, but his demeanor changed and Toni felt as if she was now trapped in a cage with a hungry lion. The look in the man's eyes told her life held no meaning to him. And he was evil incarnated... He stared at Toni, who never let her gaze waver from his. She would not show this man weakness. Then he began to speak in an foreign language to Yinsen who calmly responded back. As the conversation continued, Yinsen's tone grew anxious and the man's more irritated. Toni began to worry. They forced him to his knees, Toni turned away briefly, it was all she could do to not run to his aid... the man was at their fire, grabbing the prongs and poking at their fire for a moment as he spoke again. Toni wasn't sure she liked where this was going. Then he turned slowly around, a hot coal held with the prongs. Toni now knew she REALLY didn't like where this was going!

"What does he want?" She asked, watching the men push Yinsen's head down as the man inched the coal closer to Yinsen's mouth, speaking quietly. Toni could only watch. Then Yinsen began to repeat the same words, the word Jericho in them. He was insisting they were building Jericho. But the man was growing impatient and angry.

"What do you want? A delivery date?" she demanded, walking forward, the other men pointed their guns at her with intent, shouting at her. Toni got the message: Stop! She held up her hands, jeez these guys were itchy...

"I need him." she stated, looking at the man before shrugging slightly,

"Good assistant." she finished and lowered her gaze to Yinsen. The man dropped the coal, satisfied with Toni's submission. The men released Yinsen.

"You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile." the man stated with deadly intent before leaving, the men following him.

Toni had enough...

The next morning, Toni hammered all her frustrations onto the mask she was finishing up. It was tiring, and hot... but it made her feel better still. After dipping it in the cool water, she took it over to Yinsen and let him take a look at it... it was almost time.

Toni wrapped her hands up with gauze, even though she would be wearing gloves, she might have to punch or hit something or someone... so her hands needed protecting. In the back, Yinsen was lifting up the back plate with the small crane before helping Toni into her sweater and a pair of gloves. Next came on a protective collar made from Kevlar. After getting her dressed, she had stepped over the two cranes that held up the back and chest piece, which Yinsen helped set on her. She adjusted herself more comfortably into the pieces.

"Okay? Can you move?" He asked her, looking at her chest piece for any strain on her body. Toni slipped her hands through the arm pieces and flexed one of her hands, the suit responded with a whirring sound.

"Okay, say it again." Yinsen said as he began to assemble the rest of the suit onto Toni's small frame.

"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right." Toni spoke in a mantra tone. She had to stay focused on this math once the suit was turned on... there would only be enough power and time for just these few steps... and who knows how long the cave actually was... having a bag over her head when they took her outside hadn't allow her to really know that.

The man approached the cameras, watching Yinsen, he could not see Toni anymore. His suspicions risen, he ordered some men to go look as he continued to watch the screens closely.

"Yinsen! Yinsen! Stark!" The men shouted through the peephole, raising Toni and Yinsen's panic.

"Say something. Say something back to him." Toni said as she watched helplessly as Yinsen frantically screwed her into the suit piece by piece

"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't-"

"Then speak Hungarian."

"Okay. I know." Yinsen said as he waved his hand, Toni blinked,

"What do you know?" she asked seriously. Then Yinsen began to shout back at the men in Hungarian. After more yelling the men attempted to open the door. As soon as the latch came undone, the bomb Toni rigged exploded, creating a large opening in the cave. Toni tried to get a look at her work, but the way she was positioned it was impossible

"How'd that work?" Yinsen looked in awe at the door

"Oh, my goodness. It worked all right." he said and continued to assemble the suit, Toni smirked,

"That's what I do."

"Let me finish this." But Toni was more worried about something else,

"Initialize the power sequence." she suggested, who knew how long it could take,

"Okay." Yinsen was finishing up tightening one last screw. He put the tools down and turned to the computer, turning it on. Toni grew impatient,

"Now!"

"Tell me. Tell me."

"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now." She said as she shifted in the suit, unable to stay still. Yinsen saw the bar come up,

"Yes."

"Talk to me. Tell me when you see it."

"I have it."

"Press Control "l"." Toni said looking between Yinsen and the door,

""I." Got it."

""I." "Enter." "l" and "Enter."" Yinsen frantically tapped at the keys Toni instructed him to press. Shortly there afterwards, the progress bar began to slowly fill up, signaling it was starting up.

"Come over here and button me up." Toni said hurriedly as she felt the leg plates weren't secured, her adrenaline was pumping through her system, sending her into a tissy. Toni could hear the men approaching fast, she turned back to Yinsen who was screwing all the bolts in now,

"Okay. All right." he would mumble as each bolt was secured,

"Every other hex bolt." she instructed, trying to calm herself down and keep Yinsen calm enough to finish. But he also heard the men, panic rose back up in him,

"They're coming!" he said, a desperate tone in his voice as he continued his work

"Nothing pretty, just get it done." Toni said continuing to trying to keep him focus, but she saw he was shaking

"Just get it done."

"They're coming." Finally all the bolts and buttons were secured and in place except for Toni's face plate which she wouldn't get on until the system was up and running. She flexed her hand again and heard the suit respond again, but better than the first test,

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" she said and looked over at Yinsen who was staring at the computer screen with a worried expression, this was different from the panic he felt from the men approaching. The status bar wasn't even half full yet.

"We need more time." he whispered, more to himself than to Toni. He turned back to Toni would was anxiously waiting to be able to move,

Hey, I'm gonna go buy you some time." he said, Toni's eyes widened. No, he wasn't about to...

"Stick to the plan!" She yelled, desperate to not see her friend go and get killed. But he ran over and grabbed a gun from the men who had been killed in Toni's explosion,

"Stick to the plan!" She shouted again and watched as he opened fire into the cave ceiling. He really was going through with that!

"Yinsen!" She screamed as Yinsen ran down into the tunnels letting out fire every few steps into the ceiling again. Toni turned to the computer screen, unable to do anything more than to watch and urge the status bar to fill up quickly.

The men ran away from Yinsen's fire down the tunnels. He would yell, trying to calm himself down as he fired more shots. He followed the men to the main cave opening and froze, hearing many guns get armed and saw at least 10 men at the door waiting for him...

Finally the status bar filled all the way, the suit began to power up, pulling the power from Toni's arc reactor and the cave generator. Toni clenched her hands as the status bar stopped, the cave went dark and she was able to move. She unhooked herself and reached for the face plate. It was time.

Four men came back to the cave, seeing it dark they drew their weapons. Seeing their fallen comrades on the floor, they began to look for Toni. All of them were nervous in the dark. Who know what the woman had come up with...They could not find her anywhere. She just waited quietly in the shadows, waiting to surprise them with her invention. When one was in front of her she lit up her reactor, the man turned, wondering where the light had come from and then saw her suit. She reeled her arm back, the suit whirred in response as she let her fist fly and collide with the man's chest, sending him flying at least 5 feet backwards, his gun going off as he had squeezed the trigger. The other men where alerted and opened fire. The room was lit up with flashes as the guns hit and ricocheted off everything they hit. After a minute they stopped, convinced they hit Toni.

Toni was right on them and shoved them both hard into the sides of the cave with her armored arms. The last continued to fire on Toni, but the bullets just bounced off her suit. She approached him and walloped him good, the strength of the mechanics in her suit breaking his neck from recoil. She smiled under the plate, it was working... yes, it had surprised even her... Now to go get Yinsen.

She took as big of steps as she could as she walked down the tunnels, counting each step in her head. Men continued to fire on her when she came into view but the bullets could not touch her. One man ran up to her, attempting some kind of close attack, Toni just pinwheeled him with her arm. Another one came. Did they really think they could stop her now? She threw that one back with another punch, man, these punches hurt! Actors made it look painless... wrong! She finally came to a corner and wheeled around, clothe-lining a guy who had ran up on her. As she turned, the suit clicked and twisted with her.

Now they were all running from her, seeing her power. She took even bigger steps now, her math was running out. The men closed a security door on her, determined to keep the metal monster at bay. Toni rolled her eyes, pathetic, they had even shut one of their own in. She began to use the arms of the armor to hammer and pound at the wall, her arms coming down on the man first, then watching as the bulkhead gave away so easily before she was able to rip the doors off the cave walls. She came to another corner and wheeled back, hitting another guy with her elbow. But she had managed to embed her arm into the cave wall, oops... She tugged at her arm, the suit whirring as the mechanics yanked at the wall. A man approached Toni from behind, aiming his gun at the armor head plate and shot his gun. But the bullet ricocheted back, going through his skull. Toni heard the ring of the bullet and turned around, seeing the head man on the ground. Seriously pathetic... with one good tug she freed herself and continued down the cave.

The leader of the Ten Rings had heard his men should of a metal suit and loaded a grenade launcher, she wouldn't stand up to this, he thought. He stood before the cave opening and waited for Stark. Yinsen laid on some sand backs, coughing, he was hurt. Toni saw her friend and instinctively called out,

"Yinsen!"

"Watch out!" He yelled back just as the leader fired his gun. Toni was barely able to lean back, dodging the grenade which took off some of the cave wall instead. Quickly Toni lifted one of the plates on her arm, which had hit a small missile, from one of her other weapons and yanked a cord, sending the missile at the leader and into a wall. Debris from the explosion hit the man, knocking him out. Toni walked over to Yinsen, and tossed one of the bags off of him before lifting up the face plate to get a better look at him.

"Stark."

"Come on. We gotta go." Toni said, seeing the man in distress.

"Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it." She didn't have enough power left in the suit to carry Yinsen, he'd have to move on his own. But the man didn't budge, his breathing labored.

"This was always the plan, Stark." he whispered to her.

"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up." Toni insisted, she didn't want to leave him here. Dying and alone. If she could get them out of their quickly she could get help for him.

"My family is dead..." Toni froze. What?

"I am going to see them now, Stark." Yinsen's breathing became more distressed as he struggled to speak to her. Toni felt completely helpless, he had planned this all along as she planned their escape?

"It's okay. I want this. I want this." He assured her, he looked at peace finally. For the first time Toni had known the man, he finally looked genuinely at peace. She let out a harsh sigh, feeling her emotions welling up. She didn't know... but she smiled at the man, touching his shoulder,

"Thank you for saving me." she said softly. Yinsen gulped for air, feeling his emotions well up to,

"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." he told her. Toni watched as the man took a few more desperate breaths before his head lolled to the side and he stopped breathing. He was dead. Toni turned towards the entrance and put her face plate back down and walked out.

The men outside waited for her, listening to the thumping of her feet. When she was outside now, in perfect view, they opened fire. Toni just stood there, the bullets riddled the suit but not got through. After they unloaded their magazines, Toni smiled.

"My turn." she said and turned on the flamethrowers she had put in the arms. Everything was set ablaze. She was determined none of her weapons here would be used ever again. She pit each shipping crate, missile and gun on fire as the men scrambled for safety, several catching fire themselves. Out of nowhere a Gatling gun was being fired. The suit could not take that kind of fire power for long. Toni grunted when one bullet hit the knee joint of the suit and sent her to that knee. No! She had to finish this! She turned around and set the Gatling gun on fire. The weapons she had set on fire began to go off and explode around the compound. Toni flipped a switch and punched a button on her right arm. Under her feet, rockets were launched, sending her flying into the sky as all the weapons exploded at once. After a twenty second burn, the rockets cut out, with Toni still high in mid air. She screamed as she fell from the sky, unable to stop until she collided hared in a sand dune.

Coughing, Toni laid waist deep in the sand among the wreckage of her suit. The impact demolished it, but she was a good ways away from the compound now. She tore off the arm part that was falling off before she pushed the helmet and face plate off, looking around before letting her head fall back. She did it...

"Not bad..." she mumbled. She was free...


	4. Fresh Start

Chapter 4: Fresh Start

* * *

**Finally a new chapter! You begged for it, so here it is!**

* * *

Toni had been wandering the desert for some time now. It was hot, and she was very tired. The reactor had been drained a bit so that in itself made her even more tired. But she had to keep moving, they could be regrouping and about to send out a search to find her... She had to find some way to get to a military base... she wanted to go home so bad. She had wrapped the sweater she had used around her head to block the sun off her dark head as she walked barefoot through the hot sand. She had lost track of time while she was held captive. Just how long had she been gone? Were they still looking for her?

She reached the top of a sand dune and was ready to just give up. Her legs just kept moving. That's when she heard it. The sounds of chopper blades. She felt a rush of wind surround her as she glanced up. She saw a white star on one of the choppers, American! Finally! She threw her hands up and screamed at them, laughing in between yells. It was finally over...

She dropped to her knees as the choppers landed and a group of men approached her. At the lead was Rhodes, she had never been so happy to see him. He looked down at her, completely relieved,

"How was the "fun-vee"?" he asked her. Toni smiled and weakly chuckled, he remembered... He knelt down and grabbed her shoulders, looking at her,

"Next time you ride with me, okay?" he said looking dead into her tired eyes, Toni just nodded as he pulled her into a tight hug. She was going home...

* * *

Back in California, the U.S. Air Force was flying Toni in. Pepper and Happy waited anxiously of the return of their boss. An ambulance was on stand by as well. The back of the carrier lowered and Rhodey lead Toni down the runway, holding her hand to steady her. Her arm was in a sling, and she was back in a suit while her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. Rhodey helped her down carefully as the EMT came up with a stretcher,

"Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them." Last thing she wanted was to be handled like a victim. Rhodey shooed the EMTs away as Toni walked up to Pepper who looked like he was holding back tears, but he was smiling. She looked him over,

"Your eyes are red." she pointed out, it was more of a tease, she knew Pepper wasn't the emotional type, but he did look relieved to see her.  
"Tears for your long lost boss?" Pepper smiled even more,

"Tears of joy, I hate job hunting." he said with a playful tone.

"Yeah, vacation's over." Toni said and walked over to the limousine. She was still sore. Even though she had received some care after Rhodes took her back to base, she was still feeling the impact of her crash, the weight of the suit, and the slight drain in her reactor. But she was more worried about other things. She had to do something about what she saw over there.

"Where to, ma'am?" Happy asked, glancing back in his review mirror at his boss. Pepper scooted forward in his seat,

"Take us to the hospital-" but Toni interrupted him

"No." Pepper looked over at Toni seeing the stubborn look on her face,

"No?" Toni rolled her eyes,

"No is a complete answer." she added,

"Toni you have to go to the hospital." Pepper insisted, he wanted to make double sure Toni was going to recover... not just physcially. Toni glared at him,

"I don't HAVE to do anything. I've been a captive for three months." She snipped back, annoyed with how Pepper was still trying to tell her what to do.

"There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other..." She began, giving Pepper a slight look that, for Pepper, looked quite like "I'm horny too" and shook his head

"That's enough of that." he mumbled,

"...is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." She said and got comfortable in her seat. Pepper looked at her incredulously,

"Call for a press conference?" he echoed, Toni just nodded,

"Yeah."

"What on earth for?" Pepper demanded, what could be more important than her health? Toni ignored him,

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first." she said with a hint of insistence.

* * *

They pulled into the drop off line at where Pepper had arranged for the conference. Obadiah was waiting there with a load of reporters. He had a huge smile on his face as he helped Toni out of the car, Toni wiping her mouth off after stuffing her face of a cheeseburger from Arby's.

"Look at this!" he hugged the woman and looked her over, seeing her arm in a sling

"Toni." he said softly but had a look of confusion on him,

"We were going to meet at the hospital." Toni waved her hand at him, shooing him off her. The man was overbearing.

"No, I'm fine." she said as Happy came over with her Arby's bag, she quickly dug into it for the other cheeseburger she had gotten. Obadiah smiled,

"You had to have a burger, yeah? Well, come on." he said as he ushered her inside. Everyone had been applauding Toni and snapping pictures.

You get me one of those?" he asked Toni who practically coddled the burger protectively,

There's only one left. I need it." she said and quickly stole a bite of it as if that would ward off Obadiah's eyes.

Inside the building there were a bunch of reporters and news crews waiting. Everyone again applauded Toni's entrance.

"Hey, look who's here! Yeah!" Obadiah cheered as he escorted Toni through the crowd. Pepper stayed behind to watch in the back. He was still worried about Toni but he knew to back off when she was on a mission.

"Mr. Potts?" someone called to his right. Pepper turned and saw a man dressed in a business suit inch towards him.

"Yes." he confirmed and turned his gaze to Toni for a second,

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" the man asked. Pepper turned back to the man with a polite smile,

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now." he pointed out. He was use to people coming up to him for information on whatever Toni was about to discuss at press conferences and had gotten use to shooing flies.

"I'm not a reporter." The man pointed out and began to dig into his suit's breast pocket for a card and handed it to Pepper,

"I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Pepper made a face at the name,

" That's quite a mouthful."

"I know. We're working on it." the man continued with a small smile. Pepper guessed he must have heard people say that often.

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." Pepper began to point out, how many people wanted to brief Toni? The man didn't bat an eye,

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Ms. Stark about the circumstances of her escape." he informed Pepper who just nodded with a polite smile,

"I'll put something in the book, shall I?" he said with another nod. The man returned the nod

"Thank you." and with that he left Pepper alone, Pepper briefly wondered what that was about before turning his concerned gaze back to Toni.

Obadiah stood at the podium whereas Toni sat down on the stage before it, leaning against it as adjusted her arm in the sling. Obadiah looked down at her awkwardly, while Toni glanced around. She was too tired to do this, but it had to be done...

"Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" She hollered out over the talking, waving everyone down, they all gave her their attention. She blinked for a moment before pulling off her suit jacket and fishing out her last burger.

"Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can..." She started and watched as everyone knelt down, she gave a small shrug as she unwrapped her treat, Obadiah joined her.

"A little less formal and..." she didn't finish as she shoved the burger into her mouth, taking a huge bite. In the back Rhodey walked up to Pepper, his face twisted in concern,

"What's up with the love-in?" he asked the man. Pepper held up his hands in surrender,

"Don't look at me. I don't know what she's up to." He said as they watched, both completely oblivious as to what Toni had in mind. After Toni gulped down her bite, she turned back to Obadiah and her eyes softened, but only a little.

"Good to see you." she said softly, Obadiah smiled and nodded

"Good to see you." he echoed. Toni's frame visibly shrunk and slouched, her eyes clouded over and became misty briefly,

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad." she said sadly. Obadiah was caught off guard by her statement and was unable to respond to her. She turned to gaze to the press and spoke louder,

"I never got to say goodbye to my father." She began and ran a hand through her long hair, that briefly reminded her... she wanted to cut it...

"There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts..." she started and took a breath, it was still hard to take deep and full breathes with the weight of her reactor in her chest, it made her rib cage heavier since the implant cylinder was embedded in her sternum, despite the high setting the reactor had on her breast bone. She continued,

"Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." she finished before her face grew grim and serious,

"I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability." She said and had to catch her breath again. A reporter took the chance to raise his hand.

"Miss Stark." Toni looked down and saw a familiar face, a regular reporter of hers,

"Hey, Ben." she said very softly, breathless still.

"What happened over there?" he asked and waited abated with his pencil and notepad for her response. Toni sighed,

I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up." She said and got up finally and walked around the podium to address the press properly with her next statement.

"And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." And with that the press rose in a chaotic spree of questions as Obadiah stood up to silence Toni by talking over her,

"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers." He said as he tried to usher Toni off stage. Pepper and Rhodey watched on, shocked and stunned. Toni refused to move yet,

"What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." She said a little louder, more firm. Obadiah had his arms tightly around his adoptive daughter,

"What we should take away from this is that Toni's back! And she's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up." While he spoke, Toni ripped herself out of his arms and stormed off stage and out.

* * *

She had Happy drive her to the Reactor Factory. A short while later, Obadiah drove up and got out of his car and looked sternly at the man.

"Where is she?" he pointed towards the warehouse,

"She's inside." Obadiah sighed and went in, finding Toni staring at the very large Arc Reactor.

"Well, that... That went well." He said, announcing his presence. Toni turned stiffly to him before pointing to the back of her head,

"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?" She asked, she was being serious but her tone was playful.

"Your head? What about my head?" Obadiah asked, placing his hands on his hips, pacing back and forth behind Toni before continuing,

"What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?" Toni undid her tie and slung it over the railing,

"Optimistically, 40 points." She said, she was not worried to be honest... Obadiah was another story. She could feel the tension radiating off the older man.

"At minimum." Obadiah pointed out grimly. Toni just shrugged.

"Yep..." She sighed and lowered her head. She hated making Obadiah worry...

"Toni, we're a weapons manufacturer." Obadiah reminded her gently. Toni bristled,

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy." She quipped, turning to the man.

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons." Obadiah finished. Toni nearly stompped her foot,

"It's my name on the side of the building." She pointed out, her tone becoming more frustrated,

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos." Obadiah continued despite Toni's arguements.

"Not based on what I saw." She said loud enough to silence the man. The look in her eyes proved she wasn't playing games, she wasn't going to let this go. All those people who died by her weapons...

"We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else." She insisted, she just wanted Obie's support now...

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" He asked her, it was a snide question, but it still had it's merit.

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology." She suggested. Since she had gotten free, all she could think about was a new direction... why not energy?

"Come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt!" Obie protested, waving his hand at the large reactor,

"Toni, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"

"It works." Toni pointed out,

"Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?" Toni was now no longer convinced Obie would support her...

"Maybe." she said softly, picking at her nails.

"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years." Obie asked, Toni look up at the man, bored with this conversation and his reluctance,

"That's what they say." She confirmed. The reactor was the last breakthrough since her dad's death, that was no secret, and after he died Obie had directed the company more towards weapons than technology, which is where her father first began to lead the company. But she could read Obie like a children's book... he knew...

"Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?" she asked. His protesting wasn't all for the new company direction pitch... he was phishing,

"Never mind who told me. Show me." he said calmly but firmly. Toni was reluctant now,

"It's Rhodey or Pepper." she said out loud to herself, Obie pressed on,

"I want to see it." Toni sighed, Pepper was too proper to tell Obie, since she'd have to expose a bit of herself in order to show the reactor. She'd have to customize some shirts to accommodate that...

"Okay, Rhodey." she grumbled and with that she undid her sling, taking it off her shoulder and began to unbutton her blouse. After unbuttoning the first 5 buttons, she opened her blouse to reveal the reactor nestled in the middle of her chest, slightly above her breasts, but not out the cleavage area, and just below her collarbone. She had no shame... before the reactor... now her skin was maimed. Scarred by the backyard surgery performed. So it wasn't such a pretty sight.

"Okay." Obie said and closed her shirt for her and began to redo her buttons, Toni looked up at him. He had to be okay with it.

"Okay?" Obie laughed nervously, but Toni smiled confidently,

"It works." she said softly. Obie sighed and hugged the woman.

"Listen to me, Toni. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do

if we stick together, like your father and I." he said softly, looking down at her. Toni's shoulders slumped, now she felt bad.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had..." she began, but Obie held his hand up, she went quiet.

"Toni. Toni, no more of this "ready, fire, aim" business. You understand me?" he said, Toni smiled and jabbed the older man in the chest,

"That was Dad's line."

"You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low." The two left the warehouse, both with different agendas to get to. Toni wanted to go home. Obie back to the office. Toni had promised to do as Obie instructed and had Happy take her home. No one would foresee the future from that point. Toni would never see it coming... and that would change her outlook on things for years to come...

* * *

**FINALLY!**


	5. Swapping

**Chapter 5: The Swapping**

* * *

**Remember, I don't own anything but the new FemTony and ManPepper... maybe lol**

* * *

"Stark Industries!" A loud voice boomed on the TV. Pepper had turned on a very famous critic about businesses. It had been a little over a week since Toni's announcement. And true to her word, the manufacturing of weapons had been ceased. Obadiah was dealing with alot of heat and brass, so he further insisted Toni stay out of the game for now. The critic Pepper was watching was not known for being polite and calm...

"I've got one recommendation! Ready? Ready?" the man pushed a button, a voice came over the tv shouting out about selling.

"Abandon ship! Does the Hindenburg ring any bells?" he shouted and placed a coffee mug with the name Stark printed on it on a table. Pepper sighed. No one was taking this well and had no qualms about voicing their opinions about his boss. Probably the only people who were happy were the war-hating hippies... but they were unimportant.

"Let me show you the new Stark Industries business plan!" He grabbed a bat and whacked the coffee mug hard, shattering it. Pepper grimaced... did the man have to be that crude?

"Look, that's a weapons company that doesn't make weapons!" Just then the intercom warbled and caught Pepper's attention,

"Pepper. How big are your hands?" it was Toni's voice. Pepper glanced down at the chat log, which had started recording their conversation, it even read Toni's location in the house and Pepper's.

"What?" Pepper asked, confused. Why was Toni asking about his hands?

"How big are your hands?" she asked again. Pepper couldn't resist glancing down at his hands, turning them over as if looking for something.

"I don't understand why..." he said, confusion clear in his voice, but Toni interrupted him

"Get down here. I need you." She said and turned off the intercom. Pepper sighed again and got up, loosening his tie and headed downstairs towards Toni's workshop. Pepper didn't always have to be so formal around Toni. But he had always insisted. Toni always teased him about that, even if she appreciated it. That's why she had began calling him Pepper. She insisted he was so spicy hot passionate about working, like a pepper. At first, Pepper, or Seth as his real name was, had protested the horrible nickname. But Toni being Toni, ignored his protests, corrections and demands about the nickname and in time, it became something endearing to him... Something only Toni could give him about a nickname now...

Pepper made his way down to the workshop, entering his code for the door and saw Toni sitting on a medical bed, wearing a pair of sweat pants and no shirt, except the medical cloth drapped over her chest with the reactor exposed. She had another one in her hand, this one looking not as crude and poorly made as the one currently sitting in her chest.

"Hey." she said softly as he approached her, now have entered the workshop.

"Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them." she said, lifting up her free hand and wiggling her fingers. Pepper's brow furrowed, but he lifted up his hands and turned them over. They were very large... but they'd work, Toni figured,

"Oh, wow. They are big. Very manly, indeed." she said as Pepper came to her side.

"I just need your help for a sec." Toni said as she watched Pepper's eyes fell on the reactor. Seeing it for the first time now, but having heard about it, he was both in awe of the sheer beauty of it, but also concerned about the gravity of what the device was for.

"Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?" he asked, breathless. This small little device was now keeping her alive... it was both scary and incredible. He felt the man who came up with the idea, since Toni had explained it wasn't her idea, but she had modified the original plan, was not only brilliant, but had his forever thanks... he had no idea what'd he do without Toni. Toni held up the new reactor,

"It was. It is now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future." she said and then glanced down at the reactor in her chest, seeing the light was more dull than the one she held in her hand,

"I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump." She explained and laid back on the bed. Pepper blinked,

"Speed bump, what does that mean?" he asked, growing concern but Toni waved at him, trying to snuff out his concern. She had to admit... she was scared herself, but she didn't want Pepper to know how bad things were...

"It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device." She began to explain as she unlocked the reactor's secures and lifted the device out of her chest. There was a large bundle of wires under it, connecting to a plate inside her chest,

"And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's fine." she said as she looked up at Pepper, who looked like a deer caught in a headlights,

"What do you want me to do?" he was starting to dread what Toni had called him down for. Toni gave the reactor one good tug and the wires disconnected, she handed Pepper the reactor as if it was a filthy piece of garbage,

"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant." she said and got a little more comfortable on the table. Pepper took the device and looked at it,

"Oh, my God!" he gasped and set the device down, trying to be gentle with it. Toni didn't seem the least concern... but he didn't see how her hands shook. She was too scared to do this alone. This was why she needed his help

"I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out. My own arms can't reach in." she explained, pointing at the empty cylinder in her chest. Pepper looked at it then at Toni,

"Is it safe?" he asked, it sounded like it wasn't to him.

"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes "beep."" she explained and gripped the edges of the bed, readying herself. But Pepper was even more confused now, why was she referring to a game that played on someone's nerves?

"What do you mean, "Operation"?" he asked and Toni began to get a little impatient,

"It's just a game, never mind. Just gently lift the wire. Okay? Great." She said and let her head lay back, seeing Pepper lift his hand up and inched it towards her chest

"Okay." he said, he maneuvered his hand so it could fit in the small hole, but seeing Toni take a breath made him remember where the hole let... what if he hurt her? What if he touched an organ!? He retracted his hand quickly,

"You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this." he said and clenched his fist. He really couldn't do this. Hurting Toni or worse was too much for him... having her in pain or distress was heart wrenching enough, but to know he might be the cause... no.

"No, you're fine. You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great." Toni said softly, looking up at Pepper with a such fondness. She truly believed that of Pepper. He had been by her side for so long now... how could she not trust him. But she saw the worry and reservation in his face,

"Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm..." She asked, furrowing her own brows. She didn't want to ask so much of him, but who else did she have? Pepper watched her face for a moment before caving into her expression, just a pleading soft expression.

"Okay, okay." he said before running a hand through his dark auburn hair

"I really need your help here." Pepper waved her off,

"Okay." he said, resigning to it. He lifted his hand up and as steadily and slowly as possible, he pushed it into the cylinder. After a moment, his hand began pushing through something soft and slimy, there was a release of air as he pushed his hand through it, releasing a foul smell. Pepper grimaced in disgust,

"Oh, there's pus!" he gagged, Toni closed her eyes as she felt Pepper's hand add pressure in her chest,

"It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body." she explained and took a deep breath.

"It smells!" Pepper had to resist pinching his nose with his free hand. But worse, he felt sick now. He tilted his head up as he began to gently feel around,

"The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?" she asked as she tried to keep still, but she suddenly had the urge to move, but she kept still. She felt Pepper's fingers feeling around,

"Okay, I got it! I got it!" he said, pinching the wire between his index finger and thumb. Toni lifted her head a little,

"Okay, you got it?" she asked and laid her head back down,

"Now, don't let it touch the si-" she began but Pepper accidentally scrapped the wire against the socket wall, a sharp shock ran through Toni, making her jolt as the wire zapped her chest with voltage and the computer monitor that had been monitering her heart beeped loudly in warning,

"AH!-ides when you're coming out!" she yelled, squeezing her eyes shut. THAT HAD HURT! Pepper held up his free hand in apology and readjusted his hand,

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he said, closing his hand around the wire protectively now, Toni took a breath, trying to shake off the sting,

"That's what I was trying to tell you before." she grumbled and lifted her head back up as Pepper's hand re-emerged from her chest, dripping with orange goo,

"Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, you don't..." she started, watching Pepper lift more of the wire out, um...

"There's a magnet..." But before she could finish, Pepper pulled on the wire hard,

"At the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out." The magnet now hung suspended from the wire Pepper had just pulled out. Are you kidding?! Toni couldn't believe he had just done that. Who pulls on something without thinking about what's on the other end?! She needed that!

"Oh, God!" Pepper said as the monitors began to go off in alarm,

"Okay, I was not expecting..." she began, Pepper began to move the magnet back towards Toni's chest

"Okay, what do I do?" Toni blocked his hand,

"Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!" she yelped and tried to take a steady breath, but now that was getting hard. She felt sick, and she was beginning to sweat, and her left arm began to ache. The monitors were going off so that meant only one thing,

"What's wrong?" Pepper asked, concern,

"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest 'cause you yanked it out like a trout..." she said and rolled her eyes, how could he just... ugh...

"What? You said it was safe!" Pepper yelled, now completely in a panic as he saw Toni's monitor read that her heart rate had jumped up. Toni shoved the new reactor into his hands,

"We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick." She said, now breathless as she tried to stay focus and not panic herself... but that was very difficult.

"Okay. Okay." Pepper said and took the reactor from her. He grew serious as he touched her hair,

"Toni?"

"What?"

"It's going to be okay." as he flipped the reactor in his hands and took the main wire connection in his pus covered hand,

"Is it?" Toni asked teasingly, truth be told, she was scared for sure now.

"It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay." Pepper rambled on as he began to go back into her chest,

"Let's hope." Toni mumbled, her vision starting to blur as her heart was ready to give out,

"Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make sure you..." She saw Pepper's face tighten as he pushed the connector into the base plate. A surge ran through Toni to reset her heart,

"Yeeeeow..." she yelped out, after a moment, her vision cleared and heart rate came back down. She shrugged, jokingly,

"Was that so hard? That was fun, right?" She asked as she went to secure the reactor in place,

"Nice." she sighed once everything seemed to be in place and secure, and most importantly, working right. She looked over at Pepper who held his hands up like a surgeon and looking at her as if she was the most unbelievable thing in the room. That wasn't easy... or fun!

"Are you okay?" he asked carefully, Toni smiled brightly

"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" she asked. But his expression fell, he was exhausted. She couldn't help but burst into laughter. Pepper smiled but it was the sardonic type,

"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again." he said and looked at her with all seriousness. But Toni matched his gaze,

"I don't have anyone but you." she pointed out. The two stared into each other's gaze, the weight of that truth on both their minds. Pepper knew he'd do anything for her... and Toni knew she'd do anything for Pepper... even if both hid the truth behind that.

"Anyway..." Toni said, quickly breaking the mood spell and began to unwire herself and sat up, holding the sheet to her chest to keep herself covered. Pepper picked up the old reactor, wondering,

"What do you want me to do with this?" he said holding it out to Toni, who looked at it with a indifferent expression,

"That?" she echoed before briskly turning away from it, getting up and grabbing a shirt, while Pepper cleaned his hands off before picking up the device once more.

"Destroy it. Incinerate it." she said coldly. The damn thing brought up too many painful memories... she could still hear her inner screams as the car battery had been implanted.

"You don't want to keep it?" Pepper asked, looking at the rejected device with sympathy.

"Pepper, I've been called many things. "Nostalgic" is not one of them." Toni said as she pulled the shirt over her head and turned back to Pepper when it was on. Pepper smiled softly but sadly at her,

"Will that be all, Miss Stark?" he asked playfully,

"That will be all, Mr. Potts." She said and touched his arm before turning around and going over to her desk where one of her robots had made a mess of it,

"Hey, Butterfingers, come here." she barked and waggled her finger at the robot. Pepper looked down at the device once more... then an idea came to him before he turned and left the workshop,

"What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff." Toni's voice could still be heard by Pepper as he walked out. Toni watched as he left, gently putting a hand over the new reactor... new beginnings, she thought.

* * *

**Okay Done! I decided to make this its own chapter since it's one of my favorite scenes. Be gentle!**


	6. Author's Note

To all my loyal fans and followers. I will be unable to update any of my stories for a bit. I am going out of town and will be unable to update my stories for a week or two. I will try my best to update asap when I come home though.

Thank you for your support.


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